Flemington, NJ, February 10, 2009 – A new national study conducted among 553 viewers of Alex Rodriguez’s ESPN interview Monday night revealed that the majority (76%) reported that the discovery of Rodriguez’s past steroid usage has increased their doubt in the integrity of this era’s baseball superstars.

The study was conducted by HCD Research on February 10, to obtain Americans’ perceptions of Alex Rodriguez’s ESPN interview from Monday, February 9 which addressed the recent discovery of Rodriguez’s past steroid use.

More than half of respondents (56%) reported they “would not” vote for Rodriguez to be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame. When judging “Hero Status” in baseball, most (85%) indicated that they focus more on a player’s personal integrity, such as sportsmanship and personality, rather than their professional capabilities.

A strong majority of respondents (68%) said they “do not” consider Rodriguez to be a hero in baseball.

Among the findings:

Would you consider Alex Rodriguez a hero in baseball?

Do you think that the release of Alex Rodriguez’s name in this incident
was a violation of privacy and trust?

Has this specific incident caused you to doubt or question the integrity
of baseball superstars during this era?

We also asked our respondents to rate Alex Rodriguez on scales of likeability and believability. Rodriguez scored fairly low compared to other subjects we’ve tested in past MediaCurves studies.
These scales are based off a 7-point scale, where 1 is “Not at all likeable/believable” and 7 is “Extremely likeable/believable.”

The Media Curves web site provides the media and general public with a venue to view Americans’ perceptions of popular and controversial media events and advertisements.

Editors/Reporters: For more information on the study, or to speak with Glenn Kessler, president and CEO, HCD Research, please contact Vince McGourty, HCD Research, at (908) 483-9121 or (vince.mcgourty@hcdi.net).